Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

I remember watching the first Mission: Impossible with my parents way back when it hit VHS (yeah, I'm old) and being thoroughly confused and entertained. I never thought it would become a franchise such as it has, especially after the big gaps in years in between the first and second sequels. Yet...here we sit. It's 2015, and the series is going as strong as ever. Case in point? The recently released Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, beautifully schizophrenic and action-packed, a movie that dares you NOT to like it.

For most of a year, IMF (Impossible Mission Force) agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has been on the trail of a dangerous organization that seems to have its hand in everything. Their name? The Syndicate. Try though he might though, Ethan can never quite get his hands on the organization until finally, the Syndicate comes after him instead. With the IMF disavowed by the CIA and the U.S. government because of some of Ethan's more aggressive methods, Hunt now finds himself a fugitive on the run, turning to some old friends for help in not only staying alive but also bringing the Syndicate to justice. On top of any number of other problems, he has a new wrinkle to deal with. A mysterious agent, Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson), who seems to be playing all sides against each other, and she seems to be after the same thing Ethan is. Who's who? Who can be trusted? What crazy action sequences can be filmed in the process?

I love these movies. Released four years ago, M:I Ghost Protocol took the series/franchise to a crazy level as one of the most ludicrously entertaining action movies I've ever seen. Naturally, I was slightly kinda sorta interested in seeing this newest venture. The verdict? Not quite as good as 'Ghost,' but pretty damn close and really freaking good. Nice work, director Christopher McQuarrie! It earned across the board positive reviews and is raking in the dough in theaters as we speak. And not surprisingly, as Cruise admitted last week, there will be a sixth M:I movie. No way I'd miss out on that. The series is just too good, too fun, too entertaining to pass it up.

There's just something perfectly straightforward about these movies. They cut away any excess fat and go to work. These are action movies on steroids full of gadgets, car and motorcycle chases, exotic locales, large and small-scale fight scenes, improbable stunts, great characters, and bad guys you just know can't and won't win in the end. The Bond movies are some of my all-time favorites (and always will), but it can be refreshing to watch a movie like this that is trying to blow your socks off. Literally, 'Rogue' wants you jumping out of your seat at some of the stunts. So is the story somewhat derivative of the original? Are some of the premises tweaked and twisted from the other movies? Yeah, but you're having too much fun to give a damn. 'Rogue' clocks in at 131 minutes, but that time absolutely flies by.  There are better movies out there, deeper and darker with more story, but in terms of pure fun, you'll be hard-pressed to find one better than this.

That Tom Cruise fella, he's still as cool as ever. As one of his most famous/iconic characters (up there with Maverick I'd say), Cruise seems to have shaken off his off-screen, personal issues (G-O-O-D) and just focused on the movies again. He's always been a daredevil, an adrenaline junkie, and he takes that to the max here. That well-advertised shot of Cruise hanging off the plane? That's actually him, that's actually a plane taking off, and N-O, there's no CGI involved. HE STRAPPED HIMSELF TO A PLANE AND IT TOOK OFF FOR GOODNESS SAKE! That's Cruise, and that's the incredible energy, focus and seemingly, pure joy he's brought to the franchise. His Ethan Hunt isn't tortured or in emotional turmoil. He's a secret agent, a damn good one, and he's going to get the mission done no matter how impossible. Cruise brings all that charisma and energy and it shows with scene-in and scene-out.

Now let's give Cruise credit. He's the star, the face of the franchise, but this isn't a dictatorship. Through all the movies, he's welcomed in other stars who end up being perfect fits, whether as good guys or bad guys. The scene-stealer here is Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa, an agent with too many secrets to mention. Her chemistry with Cruise's Ethan is spot-on, sexually charged a bit but never too much, and as an action counter, she more than holds her own (and looks good doing it). I'm hoping this is a character who's in the franchise for the long haul. Because it is an action movie, we need some testosterone, and we get it via Jeremy Renner's Brandt, Ving Rhames' Luther, and Simon Pegg's Benji, the smart-mouthed, one-line slinging tech expert. Pegg is excellent as Ethan's sidekick of sorts with Renner and Rhames not given as much to do but still cool because they're Jeremy Renner and Ving Rhames.

One of the more underrated parts of 'Rogue' is the screenplay from the director himself, McQuarrie. Because we can't have just action scenes (Okay, Mad Max could), there are at least a couple scenes of exposition, setting up a character, or a mission or an objective. The scenes of the team piecing things together are excellent, especially one at a Moroccan desert bar when everything has blown up and nothing gone according to plan. These are the brief slow-down scenes that every movie needs. As an audience, we get to catch our breath (even for a second), and on-screen, the cast gets to show off their excellent chemistry. Oh, that Alec Baldwin guy gets a solid supporting part, chewing the scenery as only Alec Baldwin can. Also look for Sean Harris (as the villain), Simon McBurney (of British intelligence), Tom Hollander (the Prime Minister) and Jens Hulten (as the bad guy's brutal enforcer).

Seriously though, guys....the action. My goodness, the action. The opening scene -- Cruise hanging off a plane taking off -- is quick and hard-hitting, smacking you in the face to get things moving. 'Rogue' never goes too long with a follow-up, whether it be a car/motorcycle chase (my personal favorite), an impossible heist at an underwater vault, a fight to the death with gunmen everywhere at a Vienna opera, and over and over. It never gets repetitive and is always done in expert fashion. This is a crew, a director, a cast, everyone involved, who knows what they're doing. As far as action movies go, there are few equals to the caliber of what's on display here.

Could the villain have been stronger? Sure. I would have liked more Renner and Rhames too, but you know what? None of my complaints are enough to even remotely turn me off from this movie. Cruise and Ferguson and Pegg and that action -- THE ACTION -- just continue to take this franchise forward and into the stratosphere. Where will it head next? On the shoulders of the ageless Tom Cruise and that winning formula, I'll be there for the whole ride until they one day decide they've had enough. Go out and see this flick now!

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015): *** 1/2 /****

Beetlejuice

So can we all agree on this next statement? Strange, odd and as downright creepy as he can be at times, Tim Burton is one talented, eccentric filmmaker. Following the success of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure in 1985, Burton was looking for a script for his next film. He struggled to find the right vehicle, ultimately settling on 1988's Beetlejuice. Though I grew up watching the Beetlejuice cartoon on Saturday mornings, I never saw the movie....until now!!!

With a two-week vacation ahead of them, husband, Adam (Alec Baldwin), and wife, Barbara (Geena Davis), have decided to sit around on the house and relax doing odds and ends. Well, that's their plan at least. Picking up some odds and ends, the couple is killed in a car crash, and now they're trapped in some sort of after-life purgatory....in their own home. Is it heaven? Is it hell? Is it neither? Adam and Barbara find a "Guide to the Recently Undead" book in their attic but don't know what to make of it. They're trapped in their house and don't know how to get out. It's a minor problem until a new family moves in, an uppity family from New York City, wanting to make lots of changes that the recently dead couple is really in trouble. Maybe their only option? A live-wire, bio-exorcist ghost named Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton), who may have some ulterior motives.

Look at the films a director makes -- the good directors at least -- and you can get a good glimpse into their beliefs, their backgrounds, their childhoods. What about Burton? He is a nut. A talented, crazy, chaotic nut with a beautifully insane outlook on life. From Pee-Wee to Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands to writing Nightmare Before Christmas, Burton isn't afraid to make movies that he likes. They're weird (sometimes gloriously weird), and he's okay with that. Watching these movies is a trip so you've gotta know that going in. Watching a Burton flick is like being transported into an alternate world with crazy visuals, crazier characters, and a dark, cynical sense of humor. Sound good? I'm not a huge, diehard fan of Burton, but I can definitely appreciate a talented director like he is.

So what's an unlikely source for some laughs? Dying, death and whatever twisted vision of the afterlife that Tim Burton has. It's wickedly colorful, always slightly ajar and off-center, and though it produces laughs, it's always played straight. At no point does it feel forced. The laughs are bizarre, but they work because Burton and the cast simply lay things out for you. Here's the joke. Laugh if you want. If you don't, no skin off my back. Case in point? When Adam and Barbara visit the afterlife offices, we meet Juno (Sylvia Sidney), their afterlife case worker who fills them in on their new situation. While smoking and explaining, smoke filters out through her throat. Was her throat slit? Did she have cancer? Just go with it. There's a whole office of stuff like that, a desk clerk who hung himself and now moves around the office by noose. The football team that died in a bus wreck. The shrunken-head victim of a witch doctor...and the dead voodoo doctor. The magician's assistant sitting next to her severed lower half. Incredibly dark but oh so funny.

Enough with all that mumbo-jumbo. Let's talk Beetlejuice! Having worked for most of the 1980s in a variety of films, this was the movie that made Michael Keaton a star, albeit a star that shined brightly but quickly. Wearing heavy makeup and some kooky outfits, Keaton throws himself completely into the part as our big-exorcist ghost looking to have some fun...a lot of fun actually. He's actually not in the movie a ton but makes the most of every minute he's on-screen. He falls for the Deetzes' daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder), who embraces all sorts of weird, producing some great moments as he tries to escape the afterlife (sort of). It's goofy, often dumb, mostly smart, and Keaton is a scene-stealer. His character theme song is a gem too, kicking in HERE about 30 seconds in.

There isn't a weak spot in the entire cast. Baldwin and Davis get laughs because they play it straight, especially when they realize that as dead people they can do all sorts of horrifying, manipulative things to their bodies. As well, they're dead, but they're not quite Beetlejuice dead, establishing a sort of afterlife hierarchy. Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones are perfect together as Delia and Charles Deetz, the wife looking to gut the house while the husband wants to relax and live a country life...until there's money on the line. Ryder too is especially good as the quirky Lydia who can see the ghosts/dead. Glenn Shadix has some great moments too as Otho, Delia's interior decorator with a wicked sense of everything.

Just a funny movie from beginning to end. Too many good moments to mention, and what's the fun in me giving them all away? Check it out, an excellent Halloween-themed flick for October!

Beetlejuice (1988): ***/****

Glengarry Glen Ross

Where do you stand on cursing/swearing in movies? Do you blush if someone drops an F-bomb? Do you laugh when profanity is used as a noun, verb, adjective, even a preposition? Well, let's say this. If you're easily offended by swearing -- and I mean a lot of swearing -- then 1992 Glengarry Glen Ross may not be your type of movie.

At a small real estate agency in Chicago, the four-man salesmen staff is about to get a little shock. They're called in one night for a special meeting, a representative from their big boss arriving with a message. That rep, Blake (Alec Baldwin), delivers a simple ultimatum. The salesmen have exactly one week to prove themselves, selling as many units as humanly possible. At the end of the week, the one in the lead will be awarded a car, the second will receive a set of steak knives, and the other two? They'll be looking for work. Doesn't get any simpler than that, does it? Already working on a day-to-day basis with questionable leads to follow and a tough sell, this group has their work cut out for them. Let the hijinks begin.

This is a movie that sat in my Netflix queue for quite awhile. The cast was ridiculously talented, the story certainly interesting, and the reviews were almost uniformly glowing. Well, I caught up with it, and I can honestly say it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. That's not a negative, just a surprise on my end. I had a picture of high-end real estate, an agency in downtown Chicago dealing with huge deals of millions of dollars and gazillionaires. What is it? A far smaller, low-end agency with a cramped, cluttered office where the salesmen use all sorts of underhanded, duplicitous means to finish off a sale. These four salesmen are truly desperate, knowing their jobs and livelihood depend on one week of being able to do their jobs. Talk about pressure.

From director James Foley, 'Ross' is based off a play from David Mamet (who also wrote the screenplay). It clocks in at 100 minutes and generally has the style and feel of a stage-based play. The story takes place over a span of maybe 12, 18 hours and is based in only two locations, the real estate office and the Chinese restaurant across the street where the salesmen go for a bite to eat and get a drink. The rhythm develops like a play, the cast getting a chance to show their stuff in extended scenes of dialogue, setting things up and then letting it all develop. This is a movie about the dialogue, no doubt about it, Mamet's script a gem. The dialogue is fast and furious, the talented cast delivering it in almost machine gun succession, rapid fire that never slows down. 'Ross' isn't a movie about the effects or the style. It's about the acting, the chemistry, the script and the dialogue. Straightforward in its objectives, it's the better for it.

How about that for a slow burn? I haven't even mentioned the cast beyond Baldwin's one-scene, scene-stealing appearance. Haha take that! Foley is working with quite the cast in terms of pure acting power. The real estate salesmen include Ricky Roma (Al Pacino), the fiery, criminally smooth operator and frontrunner for the award for best salesmen, Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon), the oldest salesmen in the group and maybe the most desperate because of a recent cold streak in sales, George Aaronow (Alan Arkin), the tag-along of sorts, worried about the challenge but letting everyone else lead the way in opinions, and Dave Moss (Ed Harris), the most heated and the one maybe most willing to do something desperate for the job. As the circus master of this crew, Kevin Spacey bides his time as Williamson, their boss who tries to keep them in check while taking an almost constant barrage of criticism from his employees. Also look for Jonathan Pryce as a possible customer working with Roma who has a serious issue with a sale.

Each character gets his chance to shine, none of them disappointing. I was most impressed with Pacino and Lemmon, but that's like saying which pizza is the best. They're all really good, but some are just slightly better. The dialogue crackles from the get-go and never slows down. It can be uncomfortable at times, this crew just ripping each other apart for any number of reasons, from lack of sales to botching a call. Baldwin's cameo gets things going at a 100 miles per hour, demanding that these salesmen 'Always be closing.' It never really slows down. The dialogue is always going, but the camera just follows the conversational acting, letting the conversations and arguments and fights breathe and develop on their own. The movie is 100 minutes long, but it flies by.

I really liked where this one went about the halfway point. You think you know where it's going, and it pulls the rug out from under you. The ending especially caught me by surprise. Oh, and random pop culture tidbit, Lemmon's excellent performance as aging Shelley Levene was quite the inspiration for Gil Gunderson, the disheveled salesmen on The Simpsons.

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992): ***/****

Rock of Ages

If there is a time more ripe for the picking in terms of a musical spoof extravaganza, I can't think of a better one than the late 1980s. Glam rock and hair bands ruled the world with their huge power ballads, filling arenas and venues wherever they went with their screaming, adoring fans. Over 20 years later, it's easy to see how cliched, stereotypical and easy to pick on this time was, but treading that fine line down the middle is 2012's Rock of Ages. It's struggling in theaters so if you want to see it, don't wait too long.

Having left small-town Oklahoma behind, Sherrie Christian (Julianne Hough) gets off a bus in Los Angeles on the Sunset Strip and gets a job as a waitress at the famous rock club, The Bourbon Room. She has dreams of hitting it big as a singer, and hits it off immediately with a bar-back at Bourbon, Drew (Diego Boneta), who has similar dreams of becoming a star. The Bourbon Room is in trouble though as a crusading mayor and his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) want to shut down the rock scene for the "sake of the kids." The club looks like it's got one shot at saving itself, and that's the first show of rock god Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) and his band Arsenal's farewell tour.

Oh, did I mention this is a musical? No? Okay, well more on that later. From director Adam Shankman comes an odd but interesting, off-beat but funny and in the end, entertaining movie. Considering the source material, 'Rock' thankfully doesn't take itself too seriously, having some fun with the general extravagances of the music industry in the late 1980s. It's all pretty ridiculous with a pretty thin script, but it's fun just the same. With so many (we're talking lots of songs) musical numbers, there just isn't enough time to actually develop much of a story other than 1. Girl falls for boy. 2. Club must save itself. 3. Huge star begins to question himself. 4. Parents' groups try to ruin rock. Nothing particularly new there in other words.

Maybe it was just the commercials (or lack of) I saw, but not all of them painted this as a musical. Thankfully before seeing it, I did figure that out, but it was clear when Hough's Sherrie bursts into song 6 seconds into the movie that....hey, I think this is a musical. Brace yourself, but here's a list of the bands featured here, the cast doing their own covers. And away we go with....Night Ranger, David Lee Roth, Poison, Foreigner, Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Extreme, Warrant, Bon Jovi, Twisted Sister, Def Leppard, Quarterflash, Whitesnake, REO Speedwagon, Journey, Starship, Guns N' Roses, and Scorpions. Disappointed in that listing? That's just the songs that get the full treatment. There's another handful or so that are sampled at different point. Some songs fit better than others, some are more entertaining than others. Certain songs seem jammed into the sake of the story for the sake of having it there, but I guess that's what happens with a rock opera featuring that many different songs.

I'll get into the cast more in a minute, but Tom Cruise as Stacee Jaxx is getting his own paragraph here. Nearing his 50th birthday, Cruise has found ways to stay fresh with his film roles, and this is a prime example of that. Lead singer of Arsenal, Stacee is planning to go solo and is everything good and bad about the industry at the times. A diva who guzzles liquor, has countless groupies with him at all times, and has a baboon as a servant named 'Hey Man.' In one great scene with a Rolling Stone reporter (Malin Akerman, surprisingly funny), he goes on this rant about who and what he is, getting more out there with each passing word. A one-on-one with club owner Alec Baldwin is hysterical, neither man sure if the other one understands what's being said, symbolism and metaphors flying, Cruise questioning "Can you house a rising phoenix?" Cruise alone -- committing full force to the exaggerated portrayal -- is worth the price of admission.

The rest of the ensemble is more hit or miss unfortunately. Hough is a stunner to look at, and a very talented singer/dancer, but as an actress she's just not there yet. The same for Boneta as Drew, neither lead character producing much interest for the viewer (for me at least). Baldwin and club partner Lonny (Russell Brand, who I'm typically not a fan of) are a match made in heaven, Baldwin's Dennis Dupress desperate to keep his club open, Lonny a diehard rock fan at his side. Some of the funniest scenes -- including one priceless duet -- comes from them seemingly working on the fly. Zeta-Jones and husband Bryan Cranston are tolerable but nothing more. Paul Giamatti is an appropriately slimy manager for Stacee, and ends up being a suitable villain. The very talented Mary J. Blige is given little to do but belt out some songs as Justice, owner of a high-class strip club.

My objection here has little to do with the fact I'm reviewing a musical (brace for lightning strike) but more the actual music. Your enjoyment/hatred will no doubt come from your background with the music. Do you love big 1980s music? You'll love the movie. Using the songs though as the script though comes across as lazy to me. In certain places, it feels like a square peg into a round slot, getting a song into the story for the sake of it being there. And at a sometimes slow 123 minutes, there's a lot of singing. It gets to be like celebrity karaoke at a certain point. Good songs? Yes, you bet. Too much of a good thing? Yes, you bet. Still, the movie is genuinely funny, and some members of the cast -- Cruise, Baldwin, Brand, Giamatti -- make it worthwhile. Just know what you're getting into.

Rock of Ages <---trailer (2012): ** 1/2 /****

The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory

In its history, Hollywood continues to go back to the well on certain historical events. The battle of the Alamo has been the focus of major studio productions like John Wayne's The Alamo in 1960 or more recently in the accurate, well-told 2004 version that flopped in theaters. It has even been shown as a background piece in movies focusing on the Texas revolution as a whole. Split the difference in years between the two major movies, and we get a TV movie from 1987, The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory.

It's February 1836 in San Antonio, Texas, and Colonel William Travis (Alec Baldwin) and Jim Bowie (James Arness) command a little over 100 volunteers, all the while awaiting the arrival of the Mexican army under the command of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (Raul Julia). When Santa Anna's army of several thousand men arrives, Travis, Bowie, Davy Crockett (Brian Keith) and their ragtag force retreat into the Alamo, an old Spanish mission, in hopes of stalling the army as long as possible. The fort is in ruins though, and Travis' command is far too small to defend it adequately. The Texans inside wait and wait for help, hoping reinforcements can arrive in time before Santa Anna's soldiers storm the walls.

Made for NBC in 1987, this made-for-TV movie is based off the novel of the same name from author Lon Tinkle. Veteran director Burt Kennedy takes the helm, working with a small budget that limited what he could do with the story. This is not the epic that Wayne made, '13 Days' instead made on a much smaller scale. There's never any sense of an enormous, overwhelming Mexican army waiting outside the walls, just a few extras in Mexican soldiers' uniform. Drawing further comparison to Wayne's version, the miniseries was filmed on location at Alamo Village, the set Wayne built for his 1960 film. It adds some needed realism to the scaled-down story with composer Peter Bernstein's score aiding the cause, especially in the final battle and the main theme.

Watching this since I was a kid, I have a soft spot for '13 Days' but I can still appreciate some of its truly bad, awful moments. Historical accuracy is one thing, but there are some real oddities here whether it be from a lack of budget or just a bad script. We see the same shots over and over again, a cannon being fired, the Alamo defenders firing in a volley, Mexican cavalry riding in front of Santa Anna's tent, just to name a few. There's also moments of mind-blowing stupidity, like Mexican artillery firing a cannon with a ramrod still in the gun's barrel. Other winners? Capt. Dickinson (Jon Lindstrom) tells wife, Susannah (Kathleen York), he'll be back at night to bring her into the Alamo. Oh, by the way, the Mexican army is on the edge of town. Colonel Fannin's relief column consists of about 15 men, a supply wagon and a cannon. Low budget for that one. It's those little things -- like David Ogden Stier's Col. Black, a fictional English officer fighting with the Mexicans -- that strike an odd, out of left field note.My favorite though is Alamo messenger Jim Bonham (Jim Metzler) calling Sam Houston (Lorne Green in a bizarre cameo) a coward. First, no such meeting ever occurred, but it is an unintentionally funny scene.

With such recognizable names as Crockett, Bowie, Travis and Santa Anna, '13 Days' goes 2-for-4 in the casting department. Keith and Arness are just too old to play Crockett and Bowie. Keith was 66 at the time, Arness was 64 while in 1836 Crockett was 50 and Bowie just 40 years old. They give it a valiant effort -- Keith's Crockett a mix of real-life David and legendary Davy, Arness' Bowie an imposing, intimidating figure -- but it never completely clicks. On the other hand, a young Alec Baldwin is a great choice to play Travis, a young, brash officer thrust into a command position, rising to the occasion with his life on the line. His line in the sand speech is one of the best from all the Alamo movies. '13 Days' is also one of the few movies to portray Santa Anna somewhat fairly, Julia doing a great job with the part. He's both an obsessed, possibly lunatic leader and also a president trying to save his country.

Thanks to Tinkle's novel, the TV miniseries also tries to turn the spotlight on some of the other Alamo defenders including Metzler's Bonham and Lindstrom and York as the Dickensons. York especially represents herself well as Susannah Dickinson, the strongest portrayal of the real life woman yet committed to the screen in an Alamo movie. There's also Travis' slave, Joe (Hinton Battle), Juan Seguin (Michael Wren), the Alamo messenger, and Eloy Casados as Gregorio Esparza, one of the Tejanos fighting in the Alamo. Other defenders include Tom Schanley as Danny Cloud, a Tennessean engaged to a local girl (shrill Laura Fabian), Tony Becker and Ethan Wayne (the Duke's son) as the Taylor brothers, George and Edward, Buck Taylor and Stan Ivar as Colorado Smith and Doc Sutherland, two more messengers, along with Gene Evans, Grainger Hines, Tom Everett, Jerry Potter and Jay Baker. With so many characters, most aren't given much development, just enough to introduce them and be somewhat interested in them.

With a few slower segments over its almost three-hour run-time, '13 Days' picks up in the final hour as reality sets in that no help is coming for the beleaguered defenders. It sets the tone well for men awaiting their death, wind whipping around the fort, silence hanging in the air. For its small scale and reliance on re-using shots repeatedly for action sequences, the final assault on the Alamo on March 6 is a surprisingly effective battle scene. You can watch the final attack HERE at Youtube. For the "big" shots, footage from 1955's The Last Command was used, some obvious editing showing how different the Alamo looked in the two films. The battle is easily the high point of the movie, making up for some of those slower portions. The defenders finally being overwhelmed supply some surprisingly emotional moments, again aided by the music.

Faults aside -- and there's a-plenty -- '13 Days' works fairly well because like most Alamo movies, it gets the message right. Outnumbered against an army of thousands and surrounded on all sides, less than 200 men decided to stick it out and fight, knowing death awaited them with that decision. When it would have been easy to surrender, they fought on. So even through the cheesiness, the bad casting, the general low budget feel, '13 Days' is still well worth a watch, especially for Alamo buffs.

The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory (1987): ***/****